As microbiologists we live in exciting times. A variety of technical and conceptual developments, particularly in the last decade have revolutionized the field of microbiology, redrawing the landscape, and entirely redefining what is possible. Perhaps this paradigm shift is no more apparent than in the study of vibrios. The family Vibrionaceae are almost unique as a group of bacteria to study in microbiology: they are genomically, phylogenetically and functionally diverse yet a distinct group of environmental bacteria encompassing important human and animal pathogens as well as non‐pathogenic species such as ecologically critical symbionts. Sensitive to physiochemical stimuli, they are among the fasting replicating bacteria studied, capable of responding almost immediately to favourable environmental conditions such as those afforded by climate warming. Characterized by an unusual double chromosome and frequently carrying numerous cryptic plasmids – their genomes are often pockmarked with insertion elements, transposons, prophages and integrases – paying testament to past genomic promiscuity. With a strong affinity for environmental niches in freshwater and marine systems, they are among the most numerous bacteria present in our oceans, coasts and freshwater environments. As such they offer something for almost anyone interested in microbiology and represent an excellent example of field of microbiology that has benefitted hugely by advances across a gamut of disciplines – not just microbiological – but encompassing genomics, genetics, oceanography, ecological, earth observations sciences and data visualization, among others. We will briefly outline some of the most exciting, innovative and translational scientific advances that are currently being applied to these ecologically, environmentally and clinically important bacteria.

中文翻译：

---

新工具彻底改变了弧菌科学。

作为微生物学家，我们生活在令人兴奋的时代。各种技术和概念的发展，特别是在最近十年中，已经彻底改变了微生物学领域，重新绘制了景观，并完全重新定义了可能的方法。也许这种模式的转变并不比弧菌研究更明显。弧菌科几乎是一类在微生物学中研究的细菌：它们在基因组，系统发育和功能上各不相同，但又有一组独特的环境细菌，它们涵盖重要的人和动物病原体以及非致病性物种，例如生态学上至关重要的共生体。它们对生理化学刺激敏感，属于研究的空腹复制细菌中，能够几乎立即对有利的环境条件做出响应，例如气候变暖所带来的条件。它具有不寻常的双染色体特征，并经常携带大量的隐性质粒-它们的基因组通常带有插入元件，转座子，噬菌体和整合子-证明了过去的基因组混杂。它们对淡水和海洋系统中的环境生态位有很强的亲和力，是我们海洋，海岸和淡水环境中存在的最多细菌之一。因此，它们为几乎所有对微生物学感兴趣的人提供了东西，并代表了微生物学领域的一个很好的例子，该学科已从众多学科的发展中受益匪浅（不仅是微生物学），而且还涵盖了基因组学，遗传学，海洋学，生态学，地球观测科学和数据可视化等。我们将简要概述目前正在应用于这些对生态，环境和临床具有重要意义的细菌的一些最令人兴奋，创新和转化性的科学进展。